Almost every establishment of Capuchin friars is the product of missionary endeavors. The Province of St. Augustine, no less, was originally a missionary outpost of two German provinces of Capuchin friars. In turn, once a province has sufficiently matured, it too sends missionaries. The first missionary responsibility of the St. Augustine Province came in the 1920's when four friars were sent to China. The communist revolution suspended that noble endeavor. In 1930 four friars were sent to Puerto Rico to take up where Spanish friars had begun. The Capuchin presence continues to this day on the island.

In the early 1950's, the Vatican asked that the Province undertake a mission in Papua New Guinea, and in 1955 five friars were sent to the Southern Highlands to be the first Catholic presence among the many tribes and languages of the remote mountainous regions of the second largest island in the world. Several years later the friars were asked to begin and staff a seminary for the numerous of dioceses of PNG. During the more than fifty years of Capuchin ministry in the Southern Highlands and on the coasts many friars from the USA have labored there. In fact, friars from many parts of the world have contributed to the success of the Vice-Province of Papua New Guinea. It would be an understatement to describe the ministry in PNG as challenging. Not only are there hundreds of distinct languages and cultures, but some churches and many "stations" are in remote areas, some of which are reachable only on foot through steep mountains and valleys. New challenges arise as the relatively young independent nation struggles to establish unity and order among its people.

From the beginning the missionary work of the friars has relied on the generosity of benefactors and friends. Without the sacrifices of so many the mission would have collapsed. Prayers and material support are needed even today, no less than when the mission was first founded.

Early on the friars established the Seraphic Mass Association to insure that the missions can continue to operate and flourish. The SMA welcomes and coordinates financial resources so that the Church can be fixed solidly in mission areas of the world, especially in Papua New Guinea.

Today many of the friars in Papua New Guinea were born and rasied there. One day they, too, will send Capuchin missionaries.